Water-dispersible carbon nanotubes for aqueous surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization

A simple one-pot process was developed for the covalent immobilization of atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) initiators with quaternized triethylamine moieties on the carboxylfunctionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). The initiator-coupled MWCNTs exhibited good dispersion in water and could be used directly to prepare water-dispersion of polymer-MWCNT hybrids, such as stimuli-responsive poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide)-MWCNT hybrids, via surface-initiated ATRP of N-isopropylacrylamide in an aqueous medium. The present one-pot synthesis of the ATRP initiator-immobilized MWCNTs with good dispersion in water provides an alternative route to the direct preparation of water-soluble polymer-MWCNT hybrids in aqueous media